Altoona man sentenced nearly 4 years for drug trafficking in Central Pennsylvania
Andrew Stowell, 67, was sentenced to 46 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, by United States District Judge Stephanie L. Haines.
Stowell was part of an Altoona-based drug trafficking organization, according to information presented to the court. On Dec. 12, 2022, Stowell sold a quarter-pound of methamphetamine to an undercover officer.
Original Story: Ten Central Pennsylvanians indicted on federal charges for drugs, money laundering
Rivetti commended the Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Postal Service–Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, and Pennsylvania State Police for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Stowell.Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan D. Lusty prosecuted this case on behalf of thegovernment.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Axios
an hour ago
- Axios
Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell's family attempts appeal to Trump
As Jeffrey Epstein's case becomes the talk of Washington, the family of the woman convicted for her role in assisting the disgraced financier is claiming she received an unfair trial. The big picture: Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence in Florida after being found guilty of sex trafficking and other charges in 2021. The once-girlfriend and associate of the deceased sex offender was accused of recruiting and grooming teenagers for Epstein from around 1994 to 2004. She was also found guilty of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts and sex trafficking conspiracy. Driving the news: " Our sister Ghislaine did not receive a fair trial," her family argued in a Tuesday release. Earlier this year, Maxwell petitioned the Supreme Court to review her case, arguing a clause in Epstein's non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in Florida should have shielded her. The Justice Department on Monday urged the high court to turn away that appeal. Lower courts have also rejected her legal team's arguments. The clause in question, the government contended, "cannot reasonably be construed as reflecting some 'global' scope broader than the Florida-based state and federal charges that Epstein resolved for himself." Maxwell's family, in its statement, said her legal team will file a reply to the government "in short order," and, "if necessary, in due course" would file a writ of habeas corpus in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. What they're saying: Maxwell's attorney mentioned President Trump by name in a statement, writing, " I'd be surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the government break a deal." David Oscar Markus continued, "He's the ultimate dealmaker—and I'm sure he'd agree that when the United States gives its word, it should keep it." The DOJ and White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. Catch up quick: Amid a simmering MAGA rift over Epstein, Trump on Wednesday blasted"PAST supporters" who had bought into what he called the "Jeffrey Epstein Hoax." While Democrats have seized on the divide on the Hill — where even some Republicans are questioning the administration's moves — Trump has urged his rattled base to not "waste [t]ime" on the conversation. Zoom out: Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor who worked on the cases against Maxwell and Epstein, was fired Wednesday. She is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, one of several people — alongside former Presidents Biden and Obama — Trump recently accused, without evidence, of making up documents pertaining to Epstein's case.


Boston Globe
5 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Syrian forces withdraw from Sweida after cease-fire goes into effect
Druze leaders and Syrian government officials reached a ceasefire deal mediated by the United States, Turkey and Arab countries. Convoys of government forces started withdrawing from the city of Sweida overnight as Syrian state media said the withdrawal was in line with the ceasefire agreement and the military operation against the Druze factions had ended. It remained unclear if the ceasefire would hold after the agreement was announced by Syria's Interior Ministry and in a video message by a Druze religious leader. A previous agreement Tuesday quickly broke down after being dismissed by prominent Druze cleric Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri. Advertisement The escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province of Sweida. Government forces that intervened to restore order clashed with the Druze militias, but also in some cases attacked civilians. The Syrian government has not issued a casualty count from the clashes, but some rights groups and monitors say dozens of combatants on both sides have been killed, as well as dozens of largely Druze civilians killed in sectarian attacks. Advertisement Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, says at least 374 combatants and civilians were killed in the clashes and Israeli strikes, among them dozens of civilians killed in the crossfire or in targeted attacks against the minority group. Videos circulated on social media showed government forces and allies humiliating Druze clerics and residents, looting homes and killing civilians hiding inside their houses. Syrian Druze from Sweida told The Associated Press that several family members who were unarmed had been attacked or killed. Al-Sharaa appealed to them in his address and vowed to hold perpetrators to account. 'We are committed to holding accountable those who wronged our Druze brethren,' he said, calling the Druze an 'integral part of this nation's fabric" who are under the protection of state law and justice, which safeguards the rights of everyone without exception. The Druze community had been divided over how to approach al-Sharaa's de facto Islamist rule over Syria after largely celebrating the downfall of Bashar Assad and his family's decades-long dictatorial rule. They feared persecution after several attacks from the Islamic State militant group and al-Qaeda-affiliates the Nusra Front during Syria's 14-year civil war. While it first appeared many Druze hoped to resolve matters diplomatically, with al-Sharaa promising an inclusive Syria for all its different communities, over time they became more skeptical, especially after a counterinsurgency in the coastal province in February turned into targeted attacks against the Alawite religious minority. The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. Advertisement

USA Today
12 hours ago
- USA Today
Mexican President Sheinbaum sues El Chapo's American lawyer
The defamation lawsuit filed by Mexico's Legal Counsel of the Federal Executive comes in response to defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman casting doubts on President Sheinbaum's efforts to fight corrupti CHICAGO — The government of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is suing El Chapo's American defense lawyer after the attorney cast doubts on her efforts to fight corruption and cartels. Sheinbaum told reporters in Mexico on July 15 that the country is suing Jeffrey Lichtman, a New York-based litigator best known for defending Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and his sons, Ovidio Guzmán López and Joaquín Guzmán López. The defamation lawsuit comes in response to comments by Lichtman indicating that his Sinaloa Cartel clients could shed light on public corruption in Mexico connected to Sheinbaum's Morena political party. "Moral and political authority is required to govern Mexico, and to be worthy of our people. So, the certainty of that authority — my history speaks for me," Sheinbaum said. The agency that filed the suit is the Legal Counsel of the Federal Executive, or Consejero Jurídico del Ejecutivo Federal in Spanish, she said. Lichtman's remarks on Sheinbaum and other Mexican administrations came outside federal court in Chicago, where he was representing El Chapo's son Ovidio Guzmán López. In exchange for pleading guilty on charges including international drug trafficking and murder, Guzmán López is expected to cooperate with American authorities fighting cartels, including by sharing information on corrupt public officials. The longtime litigator mocked the Mexican president's response. "If this was anything more than political grandstanding to her base, Sheinbaum would sue me, a private American citizen, in an American courtroom instead of in Mexico where the lawsuit has no teeth," Lichtman told USA TODAY. "Why she felt the need to spend days denouncing me in part for representing clients charged with crimes, instead of addressing the many difficult issues her country faces is frightening — and very telling." Officials at the Mexican embassy in Washington, D.C., did not provide a copy of the lawsuit. What impact will the lawsuit have? Mexico's efforts to sue a private citizen in another country mark a rare if not unprecedented move, according to experts following the case. One Mexican scholar called it a "spectacle" that might wind up hurting Mexico more than the American attorney it's aimed at discrediting. "This all seems to be a show," Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a George Mason University professor, told USA TODAY. "I do not think she is serious about this. It is just a spectacle … But the Trump administration wins overall and reinforces its false narrative of Mexico being a 'narcostate.'" President Donald Trump said as recently as July 16 that cartels have tremendous control over Mexico and its politicians. The president's comments came when he signed a bill extending tougher prison sentences for fentanyl trafficking. Correa-Cabrera, author of Los Zetas Inc.: Criminal Corporations, Energy, and Civil War in Mexico, also called Lichtman's comments a "spectacle." What did Lichtman say? The comments at the heart of the lawsuit came outside of a federal courtroom in Chicago, where Lichtman was representing El Chapo's son at a guilty plea hearing. Guzmán López is one of the Chapitos, or sons of the drug kingpin who took over the cartel after his arrest and extradition in 2017. Lichtman was answering questions from reporters in the Dirksen federal courthouse when he criticized Mexican President Sheinbaum for saying that the U.S. was negotiating with terrorists for making a deal with Guzmán López. "Far be it from me to defend the American government… they're not exactly my friends in these cases," said the lawyer who represented El Chapo in 2018. "That being said, the idea that the American government would include the Mexican government in any kind of American legal decision negotiation is absurd." Lichtman referenced public corruption cases in Mexico and cartel leaders where he says Mexican authorities "did nothing." Mexican authorities are essentially at war with cartels in parts of the country and attempts to arrest bosses have led to full-scale battles, including in capturing Guzmán López in 2023. Lichtman also responded in a post on social media to Sheinbaum's criticisms: "Some free advice: don't discuss my clients in a cheap effort to score political points unless you are prepared for my unfiltered response." Why is Mexico's Sheinbaum suing? President Sheinbaum's lawsuit against El Chapo's lawyer might not get anywhere in court but having Lichtman pay a fine might not actually be the goal, according to experts. "The Mexican government's president speaks to the Mexican citizenry and sends a message of authority, dismissing what the lawyer says," said Jesús Pérez Caballero, a researcher at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, a college in Tijuana. "It's a way to preemptively quash any future news about the confessions made by detainees like Ovidio Guzmán." The lawsuit, Pérez Caballero said, is about undermining the credibility Lichtman is building for Guzmán López before his words become considered "common sense." Ultimately, Mexican authorities fear Guzmán López's account could become the default narrative for U.S. authorities, Pérez Caballero said. Guzmán López's brother and fellow Chapito Joaquin Guzmán López is also in U.S. custody. American authorities arrested him in El Paso, Texas in July 2024. He has pleaded not guilty in the Northern District of Illinois and is awaiting trial, according to federal officials.